Children in sub-Saharan Africa are now less likely to die from diarrhea and pneumonia, but these illnesses are still the most common causes of childhood death and sickness in most African countries, according to a new report from The World Bank.

The world’s 25 most endangered primates have been revealed in a new report released at the UN’s Convention on Biological Diversity. Mankind’s closest living relatives – the world’s apes, monkeys, lemurs and other primates – are on the brink of extinction and in need of urgent conservation measures.

Although the latest figures have yet to be published, Secretary-General John Scanlon of CITES already reports the illegal killings of elephants in Africa is likely to run into tens of thousands in 2011. At the ongoing rate, according to Scanlon, illegal activities are pushing the species to extinction.

Johannesburg will get the most visitors, but Durban is the fastest growing city in Africa for visitor numbers and expenditure. This is according to the latest Mastercard Global Destination Cities Index.

Conservationists often accuse China of not doing sufficient in the fight against illegal wildlife trade, but the country seems to step up its efforts. China has recently not only established an inter-agency CITES group – and is rewarded by CITES for its operations this year- , the Chinese are also cooperating with TRAFFIC to train hundreds of police.

At least 50 per cent of the elephant population of Cameroon’s Bouba Ndjida National Park is dead, says IFAW, the International Fund for Animal Welfare . They have been killed in a bloody poaching spree by horseback bandits. [Lees meer…]

Environmental crime such as ivory poaching and illegal logging has become “a form of serious, organised and often transnational crime”, Interpol’s executive director of police services told an international law enforcement summit.

Statistics seldom do justice to Africa. Take beer consumption. The average African sips a mere 8 litres of commercially produced beer a year. That’s not a lot. But Africans chug admirable quantities of homebrew. That market is four times bigger than the formal market, measured by volume.